Indy Home Marketing Newsletter

November 2011 Newsletter

Volume 5, Number 11

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			5 Questions to Ask Before Renovating Your Home Ready, set, wait before making any big changes to your home. Ask your- self these big questions... Q: How long do you plan to be living in your house after the renovations? The longer you plan to stay, the more
	creative you can be. But if you are planning on selling the house in the next five years, keep potential buyers in mind with your choices. In the latter case, for instance, go with neutral colors in the kitchen and bathrooms. For the same reason, consider maple cabinets. Maple is the best wood to choose for cabinets. Some people dislike oak and some dislike cherry, but a majority of people can live with maple. Continued


	Cut Drafts and Save Energy with Inexpensive Foam Gaskets... Electrical outlets and light switches, especially on outside walls, are prime places for cold air to leak into your home. Add foam gaskets be- hind covers and switch plates, and use safety plugs in unused outlets. The gaskets are avail- able from most hardware and home centers and only take seconds to install.


	RECIPE OF THE MONTH	Broiled Chicken With Peppers Here's a tasty recipe that is easy and quick to prepare, but will have your diners convinced it took you hours to prepare! Courtesy of: The Food Network

INGREDIENTS:

•	Freshly ground pepper	•	Kosher salt
•	6 cloves garlic, smashed	•	1 tablespoon dried oregano
•	3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
•	1 medium onion, cut into 1-inch pieces
•	1 large green bell pepper, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
•	1 russet potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
•	1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh parsley
•	8 small skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs (about 2 1/4 pounds)
•	4 to 6 pickled cherry peppers, seeded and sliced, plus 1/3 cup brine

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the broiler. Put the potato in a medium saucepan,
cover with water and add 1 tablespoon salt. Bring to a
simmer and cook until just tender, about 8 minutes.

Drain well. Meanwhile, pat the chicken dry and sprinkle
with the oregano, and salt and pepper to taste. Heat 2
tablespoons olive oil in a large cast-iron skillet over high
heat. Add the chicken and cook until browned, about 5
minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to a plate.

Add the potato to the skillet and cook, stirring, 3 minutes.
Add the onion and bell pepper and cook until slightly soft,
about 1 minute. Reduce the heat to medium; add the
remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and the garlic and cook
2 minutes. Add the cherry peppers and brine and cook,
scraping up the pan with a wooden spoon, about 1 minute.
Remove from the heat.

Return the chicken to the skillet and sprinkle with the
parsley. Toss with tongs, then set the chicken skin-side
up on top of the vegetables. Broil until the skin is crisp,
2 to 3 minutes.

Latest Housing Data Shows Signs of Optimism

According to data released by MIBOR in late September, the
housing industry in central Indiana is making respectable gains.
In a review of one and three-month activity, pending and
closed sales rose as did closed sales. For the three months
ending in August, closed sales in the region increased 15.1
percent and 33.5 percent in August alone. Pending sales, a
reliable indicator of future activity, rose 11.2 percent in the
three-month view and 7.2 percent in August.

Price, consistently the bright point, remained stable. For the
three months ending in August, median sales price across
the region was up 3.6 percent to $129,500 and average sales
price ticked up to $165,122; a 2.3 percent increase. August
only, while still in the positive, saw less increase. Median
sales price rose 1.6 over the previous August and average
remained consistent, up by 0.6 percent.

In less good news, months of supply remains high; 10.3
months when examining the three months ending in
August and 9.9 months for august only. Both are
ncreases over the same time periods last year.
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5 QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE RENOVATING (Continued)

Q: Are you just doing cosmetic fixes, or ready for an all-out over-
haul? It’s okay to make small changes one at a time, but think
long-term about the next step. For example, if you’re buying a
new kitchen sink, buy one with enough holes on the deck for the
faucet, sprayer, and soap dispenser so you’ll be able to afford to
add on later. (Cutting more holes into stainless steel or porcelain
is a tough job.) And if you know you’re going to buy new cabinets
later, don’t replace the countertop with an expensive granite one
now. The chances of reusing a granite countertop are slim to none.
Either it breaks when you try to remove it, or won't match the
footprint of new cabinets.

Q: Are you prepared for long-term chaos? Be realistic about how
long these changes might take. Renovations can go on for months,
so you need to be prepared to make do without that bathroom,
kitchen, or bedroom. When checking references, one of the most
important questions to ask is if the contractor finished the work
on time. You'd be surprised how quickly a week can turn into a
month. And if you're bunking up with the in-laws during reno-
vation, that month, as you know, could very well seem like
a year.

Q: Are your renovations keeping with the style of the home?
Any big changes you make to a home inside should reflect what
future buyers of your home will expect from the outside. If you
live in a Victorian house, don’t make it too contemporary. Also,
don’t change the woodwork or the floors. People who see a his-
torical exterior will expect a historical interior, so stay true to
the details. The same goes for a contemporary or modern home,
where future buyers may not expect old-fashioned details like
antique crown molding.

Q: Are your DIY choices reasonable? You may consider yourself
handy, but many do-it-yourself jobs demand your time more
than anything else. If you have a full-time job, are you capable
of taking on a second one? Some jobs that are not technically
difficult can take longer than you think. For that reason, if you
start any job yourself, take a tiny taste of the job before com-
mitting to the whole thing. It can takes only minutes to remove
something and days or weeks to replace it... and before you
know it, you can be in over your head. So take it slow. For
example, while refinishing cabinets with a new stain isn’t
rocket science, sanding down each one can take forever. Don’t
sand them all down at once. Instead, do one door from the
first step to the last... sanding, staining, gluing, adding hard-
ware... and see how you feel. Because, well, you just may
feel like hiring someone else to complete the rest of them.

A final tip: If you do plan to follow through with a large-scale
renovation, do the smallest room in the house from start to
finish... the insulating, rewiring, painting, refinishing, tiling,
so you gain a sense of accomplishment. Then, when you want
to pull your hair out wondering, why you're remodeling... you
can lock yourself in your beautifully renovated room with a
bottle of wine and remind yourself why.

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